


Step by Step (I'll Get Closer to You)

by PageMage



Category: Infinity Train (Cartoon)
Genre: 80's hits, Dancing, F/M, Fluff, Fooling Around, I'll say it again: IDIOTS TO LOVERS, Pillow Fight, Prom, Some comfort, Some pining, Stress Relief, Teasing, Two Dummies, even though I've never been to prom, idiots to lovers, mostly just buds being buds, potential confessions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:41:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27058132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PageMage/pseuds/PageMage
Summary: Improbably being caught stress-induced dancing, Lake has to explain herself to a stunned Jessie, who is absolutely starstruck. As revenge, Lake must defeat him in pillow warfare. It is the only way to reclaim dignity at the Cosay house."Maybe it was just another one of those days, alright? She hadn’t expected things to get weird, and she definitely hadn’t expected to be caught. But now here he was in the doorframe, and she was still holding the ipod like a microphone.She supposed it had just felt so good to move and be so alive that she forgot who she was. Lake was tough, and strong, and definitely not into rage-dancing to pop music."
Relationships: Jesse Cosay/Lake | Mirror Tulip
Comments: 38
Kudos: 74





	1. Solo Performance

Maybe it was just another one of those days, _alright_? She hadn’t expected things to get weird, and she _definitely_ hadn’t expected to be caught. But now here he was in the doorframe, and she was still holding the ipod like a microphone...

Since Lake had started school (a confusing experience to say the least), she’d been getting really stressed about the workload that was consistently shoved in place of her poor free time.

On the plus side- it was nice to choose her own classes for once. As a reflection, she’d only been able to reflect Tulip doing work for her own classes, and while it was nice not to have to do the work herself, it was almost quadruple the boredom levels to just copy it.

This was supposed to be different- she’d chosen to try out micro- and macro-economics, a martial arts elective, and had begrudgingly joined tech theater with Jesse (although she secretly liked it more than she would admit).

It was really her core classes that gave her the most difficulty. The strict deadlines and rubric-based assignments, not to mention the egregious existence of a _hall pass_ made it sometimes feel too similar to the mirror world for comfort.

Intuitively, she knew it was different. Education was her choice and not just her caretakers, the Cosays, although they encouraged it significantly. She could choose to work hard or not work at all, as long as she attended. But not working hard meant not getting jobs or something. Really, the contradictions were starting to mess with her head.

Usually on one of these discouraged study sessions-turned-tangent, Lake would take a break. Going on walks were the best for this- especially if it was in a good forest that reminded her of Alan Dracula’s home on the train. Sometimes she’d hang out with Nate or Jesse.

But that couldn’t happen today. Nate was out on a school field trip, and Jesse was staying after school for swim practice. Plus, if she left the house she knew her stress would propel her to keep walking and walking and she’d get no work done.

Which left her with one option- music therapy.

Sighing and moving her papers aside, Lake reached for the drawer that held her hand-me-down headphones. A while ago she’d gotten bored like this and sharpied out the blue details on the headset so that they were black and silver. More her style, anyway. She slipped the headphones over her ears and plugged the jack into an old ipod.

Lake wasn’t the biggest fan of most technology. Maybe Tulip had forced it out of her after she’d had to reflect in a computer screen for years or something. Still, for music she made an exception. She was a fan of a lot of different genres, but mostly things with a heavy bass or a good beat. She especially liked classic rock, Lorde, and recently a lot of Paramore.

Flipping to one of their songs, Lake leaned back and focused on taking a breath rather than the immense downfalls of the american education system. It helped to visualize being outside even while being confined to her room to study.

It… didn’t work. Lake was still antsy, reckless, and most dangerously angry. She’d broken more of the Cosay’s things than she would admit, and she really did like these headphones.

She stood up, and tried pacing instead. The room felt too small; her restlessness needed space to escape. If only she could- oh, hey. A new song.

As the new song progressed, Lake’s pacing started piecing together with the rhythm. Then she was swaying. And then moving her arms, and then her head. She wasn’t really thinking about her progression into dancing until she was moving erratically around the room, striking the air on every beat and moving in between.

There wasn’t any room for shame, just her boots hitting the floor and her hands in the air and sudden ridiculous laughter about how dumb it all felt. How dumb she probably looked doing it. The louder the chorus got, the more brave she was with letting go and just _moving_. She became more fluid, more comfortable with this sudden turn of events that led to her- actually Lake- to dance.

The song that came after was even better, one that she’d been listening on repeat for a while. She knew all the lyrics, and it was impossible not to start lip syncing with the stupid dance moves. The ipod was her microphone, the wall was her audience, and she laughed between the spaces where she forgot the words.

Schoolwork had disappeared from her mind. This was the most fun she’d had all day. She pumped her fists, kicked the air, even, dare she admit, swung her hips a little. By the time the most dramatic note of the song came, she was ready. Lake fell to her knees, swinging her arm out in an air guitar while the other held the ipod microphone to her mouth. She was the star she’d never even dreamed of.

Lake leaned the rest of the way back so that she was lying on her back, grinning widely about her epic finish. A grin that was dropped immediately when she noticed someone standing in the doorway behind her.

She scrambled to her feet, ripping the headphones off her head. Jesse stared back at her for who knows how long, while Lake’s face got darker and darker with an intense blush.

They started talking at the same time, so fast that they both had to stop and say “What?”

Before he could talk over her again, Lake said in a hurry, “I thought you were at swim practice!”

Jesse laughed once, sort of a shocked-humored thing. “It ended early today. Is... this what you do when no one’s home?”

Lake wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly defensive. “No! No. I’ve never actually done that before.”

“Well it was entertaining.”  
  
“How long were you standing there?!”

“Um, a while.”

“You were _supposed_ to be at swim practice!” she yelled, turning away to stew in her humiliation. Her blush certainly hadn’t gone down. She supposed it had just felt so good to move and be so alive that she forgot who she was. She was Lake. And Lake was tough, and strong, and _definitely_ not into rage-dancing to pop music.

Gently, Jesse tried to set his hand on her shoulder, but she dodged out of the way. “Lake, c’mon. Don’t be embarrassed, everyone needs to let off steam sometimes! Plus, you have really great dance moves.”

She threw her hands up in frustration. “Sure, fine. Whatever! I’m not embarrassed!” she lied.

“Lake,” he laughed, trying to meet her eye, “Don’t lie to me about how not embarrassed you are, because you shouldn’t be.”

“What?”

“What? Sorry, I meant like… I dance and sing all the time around you, it’s literally one of my top five hobbies. Plus, you’ll still be cool even if you like to dance! Personally I think it even makes you a little more cool,” he shrugged happily.

Lake was still frowning to herself, trying to muster up the confidence to be chill about it again. “I’m not like a dancer now just because I may have happened to dance one time, Jesse.”

“But you could be…” he daydreamed.

“But I’m not. End of conversation.” Lake frowned at the ground. If she hadn’t been interrupted, she might have gotten some good work done by now. But probably not. It was too late now, and true to Jesse fashion, it wasn’t actually the end of the conversation.

“So...what song were you even listening to? Looked super fun,” he grinned shamelessly, rocking on his heels.

“Will you stop messing with me about this? If you tell anyone, you _know_ you’re dead to me.”

He laughed again. Jesse was always in the best mood for literally no reason. “You’re avoiding the question~” he sing-songed.  
“That’s ‘cause your ~question~ isn’t important,” she mocked back.

Jesse smirked, which was her first bad sign. “Oh, really?” Then he made a run for her headphones and ipod on the desk. He’d just gotten his hands on it when Lake grabbed his hand with both of hers, trying to pry his fingers away even as he was trying to hold it above her head. She had to fight the balance between getting the ipod and breaking his fingers, which was frustrating in and of itself.

“Arggh!!” She started pulling his hand down with a chorus of “ow”’s from Jesse, until he twisted away out of her grip. He almost had the ipod away from her, but she grabbed his arm in a last ditch effort. Already unbalanced, they toppled to the floor, ipod a few feet away from both of them. For a second, they were disoriented and tangled there on the floor, which failed to help Lake’s already blushing face.

But a second was all it took before they were both scrambling forward on their knees to get to it. Somehow, Jesse beat her to it.

As soon as he had it, he jumped to his feet. “Aha! Let’s see…” He held the ipod up where Lake couldn’t reach it, even though she was desperately trying to. “Hit Me Baby One More Time by Britany Spears? Oh-ho-ho _impeccable_ taste. Why were you even trying to hide this from me? It’s like-” Lake was blushing even deeper now, fists clenched, and expression unmeasurably angry. “Uh oh.”

Jesse was racing out the door before Lake could even think to stop him. Jeez, was she so brain-tired today that she couldn’t win _one thing_? Usually she was the best at starting and ending fights.

“YOU’RE GONNA PAY FOR THIS!” She roared, pounding down every step on the staircase. Luckily, Jesse hadn’t gotten far. And his proximity to the couch made it even easier for Lake to launch herself at him with an assured smooth landing.

“Oof,” he said, already laughing hysterically. Knowing she couldn’t trust her metal fists, Lake grabbed a pillow and smacked him across the face with it. Hard. “Ow!! Okay okay I’m sorry! Please, mercy- OW!”

Jesse reached for a pillow behind him but instead of fighting back, he used it to block her blows, laughing all the while until she finally fell back against the couch, exhausted.

“Get all your anger out yet?”

Lake scoffed, folding her arms around the pillow. “You wish.”

“Seriously though. Are you okay?” He was leaning towards her now, and she could tell that he was gauging her expression as something more than it was. Lake tried a nod, but then she just sighed.

“I’m fine. I guess… school is a little harder than I thought, okay? That’s _it_.” She started fiddling with her fingers.

“So you were stressed and that led to… the best dance moves I’ve ever seen?”

She pushed him. “I don’t even know what I was doing. I swear half of that was just mindless body shaking,” she gestured. “But- and don’t you _dare_ tell anyone- it… kinda helped? Kinda a lot.”

Jesse’s face broke into a wide smile, his eyes lit up like all the stars in the sky. He poked her excitedly. “We should dance together sometime,” he teased.  
“NO. No, not happening, not never.”

“Not never is a double negative Lake~”

In response, Lake picked up her fluffy weapon and held it behind her shoulder for extra measure. “Not. Ever.”

Jesse sat up on his knees, which brought their faces a little too close for comfort. And then he whispered, “Then I’ll tell people.”

Lake gasped dramatically and hit him across the face with the pillow again. It was a hard enough blow that Jesse fell back onto the couch, laughing again. Then Lake had an idea.

She leaned in close to his ear, pillow still at the ready, and whispered back, “No one will believe you if you did.”

“NOOOO!” Now he used his shield as a weapon, and it was so fast that Lake couldn’t dodge in time. Then they were fighting again, but this time Lake was laughing with him. She was laughing, and living, and loving every second of it. Just like dancing.

Between blows, Jesse tried to say “If I win- ow! Will you teach me some- Ahh!- dance moves?”

“Drop it already!”

“Only if you become my salsa partner! OW!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you SO MUCH for reading!
> 
> This was inspired in part by the beauty of Infinity train, in part by "emergency dance parties" from Fangirl (rainbow rowell), in part by my own love of rage-dancing, in part by my own school stress, and in part by just sheer enjoyment of writing, no matter how bad or self indulgent it may be.
> 
> I love these two dummies. I hope you liked this, my second published fan fiction ever! I'm working on getting better at writing other people's characters (I mostly write my own stuff) and getting into their characters. I hope I did them justice!
> 
> Unfortunately the very nature of this prompt is a little ooc, as Lake is probably not the dancing type, but I thought it could fit, if she was unreasonably angry at herself for doing so haha. We love a self-assured queen.
> 
> Let me know if you want a part two! I was thinking a combined emergency dance party, or even prom! I'll probably end up writing it anyway, so if you're obsessed with Infinity Train and are forcing yourself to read my weird writing, I'm sorry, and also not sorry. Muahahaha! 
> 
> See you next time, or not ;)  
> \- Page Mage


	2. Duet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a frustrating day of trying to build a staircase from scratch for the musical, Lake and Jesse are fed up with the project. Luckily, Jesse has the perfect remedy to a bad mood, and it may or may not include some certified 80's bops.

“I’m gonna be honest here, I don’t think it looks at _all_ like the picture.”

“That’s not helping, Jesse,” Lake sniped, dropping the slab of wood in her hands and standing up to see it from his vantage point.

Unfortunately, it looked like he’d had an accurate observation. Their “staircase” for the school musical was looking bent out of shape. In fact, Lake would probably call it a piece of trashy modern art before she considered it a staircase. They’d been working on it for hours now and it was _still_ wrong.

“Maybe if we look at the instructions again, we could figure out where we went wrong?” he suggested, optimistically. He was always optimistic, but today it was getting on her nerves.

“I already checked the instructions a million times, they don’t help.” Lake paced, tapping a screwdriver on her temple which made a clinking noise that didn’t help her think. They’d tried everything at that point, turning the wood pieces all sorts of directions, nailing, screwing, and gluing them back together but the final product seemed to look worse every time. Plus, it was getting chilly in the garage now that the sun and its dry heat was receding faster and faster into the horizon

“Hey, come look at this- I think these two pieces are switched.”

“Switched? How could they be-,” she groaned loudly. The second stair top (of only three, mind you) was larger than the first, which was shrimpy by comparison. “How did we miss _that?_ ”

“If we switch them back, it’ll probably be done, right? Here,” he said, handing her a hammer to pry it off, but she was already approaching it with her bare hands. Right, with her _metal_ bare hands.

Lake grabbed the first board that had been excessively nailed into the supports and tried pulling it up at an angle. Immediately, the wood started to creak in response.

“Are you sure you don’t want to use-” the board SNAPPED in half. There was a millisecond of silence, and then Lake swore very loudly and kicked the rest of the wooden mess hard enough to break it even more despite the desperate patchwork. Then she stormed out of the garage, swearing and making more frustrated noises, leaving a very shocked Jesse in her wake.

Outside, Lake paced, fists clenching and unclenching and feet stomping into the asphalt. Breaking the staircase hadn’t quelled her anger in the slightest and she _still_ wanted to kick more stuff. Stupid chrome arms. Stupid- UGH! Stupid project! She just knew Mr. Rosencrantz wasn’t going to be happy about their botched staircase, and she seethed that she was the reason.

Jesse trailed out of the garage after her, laughing hysterically. _Laughing?_

Lake scowled and spun around to face him “Why are you laughing? I just destroyed our chance at a good grade.”

“HA! Literally." Her eyebrows lowered into a deeper glare, and Jesse remedied with, "It's fine though, I’ve wanted to do that _all day_. I just understand your frustration, that’s all.”

“It doesn’t change the fact that there’s no way we can fix it now,” she growled.

“Lake,” he shook his head kindly, “It doesn’t matter. We can ask for more parts at school tomorrow and fix it later. Right now we just need to blow off some steam.” His comforting smile changed into something a little more mischievous.

“Hey- stop. What’s that look supposed to mean?”

Jesse scoffed, trying to hide the way his eyes were all lit up with some dumb idea. “What look? I’m not doing a look.”

“You are. And whatever you’re thinking, I don’t want in unless it’s throwing glass against some walls.”

“That's so edgy, jeez. I was just thinking we could… put some music on?” It was such an innocent request that it took a second for her to piece it together.

“No. Jesse, I’m not gonna dance with you.”

“C’mon…” He reached for one of her hands that was curled into a fist and held it in both of his. Gently, he tried to unfurl her fingers and, when he succeeded, threaded his own fingers between hers. It was such a little thing, but Lake couldn’t help but take distinct notice. “Dancing will keep you from breaking more stuff, or more importantly, me. I’m squishy, remember?”

Lake made a frustrated noise and looked up at the sky, already embarrassed. He had a point- her nerves were still completely on edge and she was already on thin ice about punching a hole in the wall on Tuesday. It was probably safer to find a better outlet. She just wished that the outlet didn’t have to be so… frilly. Or something. Why couldn’t she learn to throw knives? That’d be a pretty badass outlet.

“Pleeease?”

Finally, she conceded. “One song. ONE.”

The goofy look returned, head tilt, toothy grin, and all. He even squeezed her hand in giddiness, and Lake tried not to like it as much as she did.

“I have the perfect song in mind.” Lake didn’t like the sound of that, but Jesse dropped her hand anyway to search for his phone and play the mystery song. The second she heard the synthesizers, she groaned again.

“Really? Rick Astley?”

“It’s a classic! Plus, it’s very danceable,” he smirked, demonstrating his point by mimicking the dance moves she’d seen in the video every time she’d gotten rickrolled. His dancing was overdramatic, and definitely awkward at first, but he was already getting bolder. When she didn’t join him right away, he grabbed the screwdriver and started using it as a microphone, mouthing ‘you know the rules, and so do I’ while he beckoned her with the other hand.

It was so ridiculous. She couldn’t help but break into laughter at the sight of him. But Jesse didn’t miss a beat. He was already by her side, catching her hand and pulling her back to the garage-turned-dancefloor.

“You said one song, that means you have to join me,” he whispered hastily, determined not to miss the next lyric. Scoffing with an unshakable smile on her face now, she started to move opposite him. It was stunted at first- the same as when she’d been in her room a week ago, but as Jesse’s lip-syncing got more dramatic and hilarious, she started to loosen up even more. She was laughing more than she was dancing, and then dancing more than she was laughing. 

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/191596657@N07/50781410078/in/dateposted-friend/)

Slowly, the pent up anger began to melt away from her body, and then she was even freer to mock Jesse’s drama with some of her own. At some point, Jesse had started straight up duetting Astley, and then Lake _had_ to join in, at least to fix his complete lack of rhythm. There was only one screwdriver-mic though, so she kept needing to steal it from his hands to take her turn singing loudly and off-key, trying to out-drama him.

It became a competition- as often it did with them. Once she got the screwdriver-mic, she would half dance, half run away from him to keep it for as long as it took for him to steal it back from her hand, and vice versa. Eventually, the chorus came back and neither could decide who wanted it more, so they both grabbed onto the ‘microphone’ and sang into it together, flushed faces inches apart.

Lake… tried not to notice that she could’ve used anything else as her microphone.

The first song came to a speedy close, but another was soon to follow, and Lake didn’t feel like reminding Jesse that she’d only promised a single song. She was having too much fun cracking up at Jesse’s stupid dance moves, this time to “Take On Me” by A-ha. 

After a number of 80’s hits and idiotic dance moves (both of which Jesse seemed to have an endless amount), they both crashed on the cement floor of the garage, taking a full minute to breathe and cool down before they could talk again. 

She hadn’t expected to get so carried away. It was only a week or so ago that she'd danced for the first time (Tulip wasn't really a fan), but something about it was so carefree. And stupid. It was honestly so stupid. But laying on that cement floor, she couldn’t find where she cared anymore. She could be herself around Jessie. If anything, he enjoyed goofing off more than she did, and it was something she was taking solace in.

“Feel better?” he asked, rolling onto his stomach closer to her, but probably just to rest his cheek against the cold cement as he was doing now. 

Lake shrugged as much as was possible on a concrete floor. “I don’t want to turn your walls into swiss cheese anymore, does that count?”

He snickered, “absolutely. Crisis averted yet again by your very own neighborhood hero.”

“Again? Where were you on Tuesday, huh?”

“Is my mom still mad about that?” he sucked in a breath through his teeth. “I should’ve been there.”  
  
“She’s… not happy with me,” Lake said, looking away. “Anyway, I don’t think there’s much you could’ve done to stop me.”

“What was it again? That made you, y’know.”

“Blow up? Just _say_ it.”

Jesse made an awkward face, and Lake sighed. She shouldn’t be mean about something that was her fault.

“It was a math question.”

He was quiet for a second. Then he said, “For a girl made of chrome, you sure have a lot of hormones. Or uh... Chrormones?”

She flicked his shoulder.

“Ow! Jeez." He rubbed his shoulder. "Still, I do think I could’ve stopped you,” he said, earnestly. Lake shook her head slowly, and then faster as she sat up, leaning an elbow on her knee. 

“You couldn’t even stop me from breaking our poor staircase.”

“To be fair, I didn’t _want_ to stop you. I hate that project.”

Lake raised her eyebrows. “ _You_ hate something? Where’s Jesse Cosay, optimist of the universe?” she gestured dramatically. He sat up then, a slight frown on his mouth.

“I don’t have to love everything, you know.”

“Casanova, please. Anyway, how would you have stopped me? I kinda wanna hear this. For the sake of your mother’s poor walls.”

Jesse dragged a hand through his shaggy hair. “I don’t know how to explain it really? I just feel like you won’t hurt me.”

Lake gave him a blank stare. “Yeah, but you aren’t _the walls_.”

“Okay, _yeah_ , I see your point, but I mean,” he huffed, “it’s like last week- when I was teasing you about the song on your ipod.”

“Yeah?”

“I know for a _fact_ that you could’ve just punched me in the gut to get your ipod back.”

“Man why didn’t I think of that,” she monotoned.

“Lake, seriously. You were going soft on me even though you were angry. Actually, you were pretty furious,” he recounted fondly, as if it was a happy memory.

“I don’t go soft!”

He gave her a look. She looked away with a grunt.

“My point is,” he continued, “I think we can work on this. Together. You don’t have to deal with your anger alone.”

Lake rested her head on her knees and hugged her arms around them. “I think the exact wording your mom used was ‘temper tantrum’”

He went quiet again, and it bothered her. She _knew_ it was a problem. It was just… every time she got angry about something, it was like her whole body was set on fire. The train had gotten her used to fighting out of everything, tooth and claw. She couldn’t rein in her demons fast enough, and her only outlet was to make things worse. Only outlet… until today. But it wasn’t like Jesse could be there with a boombox every time she was feeling angry. She didn’t want him to _need_ to. What she needed was the one thing she hated: control.

Without noticing it, she’d curled her hands into fists again. And again, Jesse slowly took her hand in both of his. Just like he was doing with her pain and isolation. Carrying the burden.

“You’re not broken, okay? You’ve just been through a lot.” This time, instead of joining their fingers, he rubbed his thumb against her palm, like he was trying to massage out the tension in her mind. 

She couldn’t really think of anything to say while he was doing that, could barely think of anything at all, and ended up murmuring “helluva lot” stupidly. Her face was getting all soft and smiley in a dangerously transparent way. She quickly schooled it into something more neutral before he could notice. After all, he was just… comforting her. What if she took it the wrong way?

“Yeah. Hey, I’m sure you and my mom can make amends.”

Lake nodded, finally looking away from her hand in both of his. “Yep. I’ll work on it.”

He returned her nod and released her hands, which she was definitely _not_ disappointed about. “You know who would’ve really liked those songs?”

“Anyone born before the stone age?”

“Hey! No, Alan Dracula!”

She smiled, “That wild card? I think he prefers only the sweetest symphonies of wind blowing through grass,” she said, using an overly proper accent. Jesse laughed, and it was music to her ears after such a serious conversation.

“Or- or maybe he likes Christmas music.”

“Christmas? Why-”

“Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer, c’mon!”

“Um I’m pretty sure reindeers are completely different from deer,” she corrected.  
  
“No, they’re _deer,_ ” he insisted.

“Yeah, but like the winter species. Like a polar bear isn’t really a bear.”

“I-... Yes it is! Bear is _in_ the name!”

Lake blinked. “You know, I’m not really sure about polar bears. But I _swear_ reindeer are different.”

“Alan Dracula probably wasn’t a real deer, so he could be a reindeer if he wanted.”

“Oh, if he _believes_ in himself?”

Jesse’s eyes sparkled. “Yes,” he said, completely solemn. Lake broke into laughter again.

“There he is, the world's greatest optimist back at it again.”

He laughed softly and he turned to face her, but when he did, his expression changed entirely. The fluorescent garage light had gone out a while ago, so the only light illuminating his face now was the Arizonian sunset, warming his brown skin. And his eyes- the ones that were looking at her- were sparking like the stars yet to grace the sky. She figured the same sunset colors were reflected against her skin, too, and his gaze was starstruck over it. Hers was too, for a completely different reason. It was a look that she couldn’t hide this time.

Jesse looked like he was about to say something, but then he faltered and fell silent.

Quietly, as the moment required, Lake whispered, “What?”

Then, he took her hands again- both of them. It happened in slow motion.

And then, earnest as ever, he whispered back,

“Will you go to prom with me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU THANK YOU to my bestie Eli for making the gorgeous fanart above!! What are you doing here? GO FOLLOW HER!
> 
> Maaaybe you should ignore the twilight reference I slid in there about the "you won't hurt me" thing ahaha. I just love those books, they're some of the best comedy fiction around.
> 
> Thank you for reading! I'm having fun with this series and I'm really glad I got around to writing the next part. Even though this fandom is small, I'm trying not to focus on the lack of views and stuff. Writing for myself is something I just need to learn. But if you, dear reader, were happy in reading this, then it was worth the post. 
> 
> I'll probably finish this series after I post this one-shot I'm working on, but who knows how long that'll take hahaaa. I'm not super consistent, sorry.  
> alright, mage out, PEACE


	3. Encore

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prom was supposed to be a lively, exciting event for high schoolers. So why did it have to be so tacky?

“Will you go to prom with me?”

The words echoed loudly in Lake’s brain and she went still.

His words were so much a vow, so much more serious than the discussion of a meer high school event, that she was almost disappointed. _Almost._

Her eyes flickered between their joined hands and his soft look, and she couldn’t resist a disarmed little smile. Prom? With Jesse? For a brief moment, Mace’s words drifted through her mind. ‘What then? High school? Prom?’

Maybe this was possible. Maybe she would prove him wrong after all. Maybe, despite all the difficulties of her condition, she could live life like a normal teenager, past reflection or not.

But then another thought crossed her mind. What if he’d meant… as friends? It seemed impromptu enough, since there was no planning involved. Of all the signs and signals, that one thought just _had_ to get out when she blurted, “What, as friends?”

Jesse looked taken aback for a split second, and then his expression took on some discomfort. “Um, sure. If you want.”

Yet again, Lake had no idea what to say. Of course that’s not what she wanted, but she was already in too deep. What then managed to get past her lips was a pitched, awkward laugh and a shrug. Then took her hands away and slid back on the garage floor to put space between them until her back pressed against a plastic bin that was lying around.

“I can go as your date, Casanova, don’t worry,” she teased halfheartedly, still internally slamming her head against the wall.

“Oh- Okay. Great.” Jesse stood up, brushing his hands on his pants. The bright light blinked back on with his motion, and just like that, the spell was broken. He looked dazed. Or worried. Both? He was unreadable, really, and maybe it was the bright glare of the new light. Lake suspected he felt as weird as she did. “I’m gonna… go help with dinner.”

“Cool, cool, okay,” she said, forcing casual. Once he had closed the garage door behind him, Lake’s face fell forward into her hands. “Why did I _say_ that?” she hissed to the empty garage. She felt like an idiot. He wouldn’t have asked her to go with him if he didn’t like her, right?

Wait a second. 

Lake looked up from her hands, out at the fading sunlight again. He _did_ like her then, didn’t he? She bit her lip to hold back a ridiculous, goofy smile. All the handholding and dancing and flirting that could be mistaken as teasing… Could it be possible he felt the same way?

Or… actually, it could all be in her head. How was she going to go with him now? She doubted prom would be anything but a similar kind of overthinking. Going as friends was probably for the best. That way nothing could go wrong. Right?

\---

Lake’s converse tapped down on the pavement as she exited the car, already on the lookout for Jesse. Apparently, swim practice didn’t even give breaks on prom night, which meant Lake was going to have to meet him at the school. She didn’t care all that much, although he’d complained about having to get ready in the school locker room. He’d said to meet by the back entrance, but he was nowhere in sight. She frowned, stepping away from the car and making her way across the parking lot. The night was already cooling down in Arizona, which would be bad news for anyone not made of chrome. Whatever. If Jesse was making her wait, he was going to have to freeze.

Leaning against the outer wall of the school, she checked both ways, but there was no sign of him. She breathed a quiet sigh, trying not to focus on the nerves in her stomach. She had nothing to worry about, really. It was just a dance. And she’d danced before, so what was she afraid of? _Nothing_ , she reminded herself. 

She wondered idly if Jesse had planned the ‘promposal’ situation. It seemed too convenient really, with the dancing and the timing of the sunset… But then again if he’d really planned it out he’d probably make one of those cheesy posters. Then she _definitely_ would’ve said no.

Lake bit the inside of her lip, glancing around again. No, it couldn’t have been planned, because breaking their staircase was what caused them to dance in the first place. He’d probably just realized in the moment that he was dateless, and Lake was the most convenient choice. Convenience, that’s all this was. No big deal. But… her heart still drooped anyway.

He _still_ hadn’t shown up yet. Getting restless, she curled her hands into the fabric of her skirt. Maybe he meant the other exit. Maybe she was _overthinking_ again. She blew some air out of her nose. Well, it was hard not to get annoyed when your date… friend… was five minutes late. If he was going to be any longer, she was going to go in without him and hack the high school vending machine for snacks. She turned her head towards the door. It couldn’t be that hard to sneak in, right? He had their entrance tickets...

“Lake!” she heard him call her name and smiled inadvertently as she turned to meet him. There he stood, suit, tie, and… wet hair? It must not have dried from swimming or something. He was grinning at her like an idiot, probably admiring the outfit she had on. Though she’d never worn a dress on her own, she found herself liking this one, even if it was only partially a dress. It had a high neckline and was cut off at the shoulders, Lake-style, with a light gold waistband. The navy half-skirt fell to her ankles on either side and parted in the middle, revealing pants underneath. The skirt itself had a nice gradient to a sparkling azure, and Nate at the time had compared its reflectiveness to Lake’s skin.

“Well well well, look who’s late,” she teased, “looks like prince charming needs to get his act together.” Lake teased, taking the opportunity to saunter over to his side.

“You’re wearing a dress… kinda,” he commented stupidly, still looking semi-starstruck. She tried not to be fazed, ignoring the growing nerves in her stomach.

“Perceptive.”

He rolled his eyes, “I just didn’t think you owned one, that’s all.”

“Nate helped me pick it out.”

Jesse caught her gaze suddenly, his eyes lighting up. “Will you do a twirl for me?!”

“Pfft,” she shook her head and pushed Jesse towards the entrance. “Let’s just get this night over with, alright?”

“Overwith?” his grin widened mischievously. “I’ll have to change that mindset.” Lake didn’t know how to respond, so she just pushed him faster and he laughed, “Okay I’m going, I’m going.”

They got to the entrance and had to wait in line for their tickets to be taken. It was clear that even after swimming, Jesse still had a lot of energy. He was constantly tapping his foot, tilting his head or fiddling with something. At some point, he shook his head like a dog and flicked water everywhere. Some girl in line gave him a death glare, but both Lake and Jesse were too busy cracking up to notice. They’d almost gotten to the door when Jesse gasped and turned to her.

“Oh hey, I almost forgot! I gotta do the flower thing.”

“Flower… thing?”

“What’s the, um-” he rolled his wrist trying to find the word, but just gave up and took something out of his coat pocket and presented it to her. “Flower thing!” The ‘flower thing’ was actually a corsage, two paired flower accessories in a small plastic casing. Both pieces were collected with real white roses, with some small greenish flowers to accompany it.

“You got me a corsage?” her tone was a little off, given that she was flattered yet confused by the gesture. “Isn’t that for-”

“Here, let me put it on you,” he cut in, opening the plastic case and retrieving the wrist flower. It was probably tacky to exchange the flowers without any ceremony in the literal line to go inside, but Lake didn’t really care. It was usually Jesse who cared more about tradition and stuff, but he was a little too fidgety tonight for some reason. At her nod, Jesse reached for her hand, his fingers grazing against her wrist lightly when he slipped the bracelet on. For that brief moment, she felt his touch like a little jolt of electricity running up her arm. Lake bit her cheek and shoved down her feelings. Then she took the plastic case from Jesse and picked up the flower meant for him.

“Uhh where is this supposed to go?”

“Guess. Wait- wait no,” He laughed, “there’s a needle involved so no, uh you shouldn’t guess,” he pointed to a spot near his collar. “Here, I think.”

She shook her head, taking the needle from the flower gently and pinning it to the spot he’d indicated. “This is so dumb.”

He shrugged. “I dunno, I kinda like it.”

“Yeah, cause you’re a sap.”

He almost responded, but then they arrived at the front of the line before he could.

Finally, they turned in their dance slips and walked into the gym hallway-turned-prom. The immediate impression was… disheartening. To say the least. The glaring fluorescents were perhaps more jarring at night, and there were a couple of shiny paper stars half-hazardly stuck to the wall. 

They looked at each other, then Jesse shrugged and led the way to the gym doors, where music was emanating from. She could feel the bass pulse in her feet and through her body, and suddenly the introvert in her wanted to evacuate. She paused at the door hesitantly.

“Maybe we should…” she started, but then Jesse turned back to her, and his eyes sparked the kind of excitement that she didn’t want to stifle. So she half-smiled and followed him reluctantly. As soon as he turned away though, the oppressive energy returned, and so did Lake’s bad mood.

Their school had decorated the gym with the same tacky stars, but hanging from the ceiling. The “dance floor” was just a bunch of black tarp laid out on the floor. The lights were mostly out, but when she lifted her hand, she could still see her reflection in the dim light, putting on a brave face while disappointment hid right beneath the surface. 

Lake didn’t know what she’d expected. It was a public high school, and tickets were like forty bucks for the both of them. Maybe it was supposed to be more... magical or something. Sure, the real world was boring in comparison to the train in many ways, but it was that kind of normal tranquility that she valued most. Not today, though. Or maybe it wasn’t the “magic”. Maybe it was that she had wanted to go with him as his date, and she’d ruined that, too.

She dropped her hand and exhaled. She wanted to complain about it to Jesse (she always wanted to tell him things), but she didn’t want him to feel bad. _He_ was the one who’d invited her, after all.

As if on cue, Jesse reappeared in front of her, backtracking from where he’d been talking to friends. “Lake, are you coming?”

“What? Oh, yeah.”

“Great,” he took one of her hands without looking at it. “Let’s have fun, okay?”

Lake rolled her eyes and allowed him to pull her back to his friends. Well, _their_ friends. She’d been integrating into his friend group since she’d gotten off the train but there still seemed to be a disconnect.

“Hey Lake,” one of them greeted and she nodded in response, distracted. The music was too loud, and too… wrong. Everything felt wrong. Again, she wondered what she’d actually expected from this stupid high school tradition. An elbow in her side broke her from her thoughts and she shot a glare at Jesse. 

“What,” she hissed.

“Jen just complimented your outfit, I was trying to get your attention,” he responded innocently and a little hurt.

Lake looked up at Jen and smiled tightly with her mouth closed. “Thanks.” Jen nodded and the group went back to their conversation, but it was clear Jesse wasn’t going to let her stew in anger, so he pulled her to the side.

“What’s wrong?”

“What do you mean what’s wrong, there’s nothing wrong.”

“Lake.” He gave her a look, the one that she’d begun calling his ‘pensive-concerned’ look in her head. “You’ve been off ever since we came in here, just tell me what’s up.”

She set her jaw and broke eye contact with him. “No.”

“You’re really not gonna tell me?”

She shook her head.

“Well then, there’s only one option.” Jesse reached for both of her hands and she allowed him to entwine them together because she knew she couldn’t ever fight him completely. And she knew that if he was with her, she could probably be happy anywhere, no matter how tacky. Then, of course, he whispered, “dance with me, Lake.”

She met his eyes and shook her head again.

“Why not?” he lifted one of her arms by her hand, trying to get her to twirl or something, but she resisted easily.

“Not _here_.”

“Why _not_ here, Lake? This is a dance.” He settled for just swaying side to side, holding her hands while she remained motionless. She had no idea what kind of beat he was trying to match though, when all that was playing in the gym was overly loud rap music. Yet another thing that got on her nerves.

“Yeah, but no one else is dancing,” she said, since it sounded like a better excuse.

“That never stops me. C’mere.” He brought their interlocked hands to his shoulders, and placed hers there, then let go to settle his on her waist. Lake’s pulse spiked. She wasn’t ready for _“c’mere”._ Especially not in the crowded gym where people could see.

“Uhh, you know what? I have a better idea.” She slithered out of his hold and grabbed his wrist instead, pulling him towards the exit. He laughed and was quick to stumble after her, shifting her hand so that they were entwined again. Why did he have to keep _doing_ that? Her confidence faltered every time his fingers slid between hers, and the night had only just begun.

The light in the hallway was still atrocious, but they would only be there temporarily, so it didn’t matter. Lake took the side hallway, still pulling along her goof of a date. After a minute, they had arrived at her favorite spot in the whole school: the vending machines. Okay, so it wasn’t her _best_ plan, but it got them away from the gym, so she was happy.

“Really?”

“What? It’s after hours so the security cameras won’t catch me tampering,” she grinned maniacally and let go of his hand to mess with the keypad. It was a trick she’d learned from Tulip, one that her counterpart had been too afraid to try but that Lake did as often as possible. Coding _might_ have a purpose after all.

“You know there’s free food back by the gym, right?”

“Eh,” she shrugged. “Illegal vending machine gummies just taste better for some reason. I think it’s the vandal spirit in me.” Lake emphasized the last word with a light punch to the machine, and the robotics started whirring in response. A pack of gummy bears dropped from the vending shelf and she was quick to retrieve it. She ripped the package open with her teeth and threw some in her mouth, but stopped when she noticed Jesse’s frowning. “What?”

“Lake…”

“Yeah?”

He looked away from her and leaned his shoulder against the wall. “Do you regret coming here?” 

She bit her lip. Then she shook her head.

“But you don’t want to stay, right?”

Lake breathed out a sigh. “Yeah… it’s just- I don’t really know how to say this, but prom is kinda…”

“Disappointing?” 

She nodded slowly, sheepish. 

“And tacky and lame, and the music sucks,” he surrendered a smile.

She offered him some gummy bears. “Well, _obviously_ you think the music sucks, I mean you hate every song that came out after 1989, so.”

He scoffed. “Untrue! The greatest hit of all time “When I Look at You, I See Me” came out in 1997, so _there._ ”

“Of course _you_ would know that, nerd.” She snickered and then raised an eyebrow. “So… you wanna ditch this lousy prom?”

Jesse’s eyes lit up. “Not if I ditch it first!” he yelled nonsensically before sprinting towards the exit, laughing all the while.

“No fair! Illegal head start!” she called, running after him. His headstart meant he’d already pushed the handle and was running out into the chilly night. The door was swinging closed as Lake reached it, but she kicked it open just in time, accidentally leaving a dent in the handle with her chrome foot. “Whoops!” she cackled, chasing after Jesse.

“What?”

“It doesn’t matter, just _run!”_ she yelled, their laughter echoing into the wide expanse of sky as they made their way to freedom.

\---

It wasn’t long before they were far from school, after running for several blocks and then slowing down to walk the last few together. Jesse kept promising something good was up ahead, with Lake not quite believing him.

“How much farther…”

“Just a few more blocks.”

Lake rolled her eyes with a smile, “you said that a few blocks ago, blockhead.”

“Trust me,” he turned on his heel to walk backwards ahead of her. “It’ll be worth it.”

Then he shot her one of his lopsided, careless smiles. Jesse smiled at everyone. It was the simple fact of being an extravert, and she knew that. But something felt different tonight. Maybe it was the supposed “energy” of prom, though that kind of thing missed her entirely in the school’s nasty gym. Maybe it was just him. He brought joy to everything. Even through Tulip’s eyes, she never saw anyone with so much enthusiasm for such mundanity. It was the kind of enthusiasm that picked you up and carried you along. Being with him was like floating; she had to make sure her feet were touching the ground sometimes. Huh, imagine that. A metal girl floating.

Point being, when he grabbed her hand again, Lake metaphysically shot into the air. She even laughed a little at the shock, and he echoed her laughter as he pulled her along impatiently. This little escapade- their walk- was already far better than prom had been. Could even measure up to. She loved being alone with him. Not openly, of course, but... internally. She knew. 

The square was lit up by several streetlights with that kind of golden glow that made you feel warm just by looking at it. The light was almost festive, although it was April and not near any kind of holiday. It was beckoning them to step into the empty square.

Cause really, it was just the two of them. Most of the shops in the outlet malls had closed for the night, and there were only a few passersby on their way elsewhere. Best of all, there was already music playing. _80’s_ music. She couldn’t stop her mouth from smiling at all the coincidences even if she wanted to. They turned to each other at the same time, barely contained laughter spilling over the edge as they saw the other’s expression.

Jesse ran into the square first, singing at the top of his lungs to the song that was playing. “It’s gonna take a lot to drag me away from you! There’s nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do!” 

Lake found it impossible not to laugh, and even more impossible to not dance-chase after him. She wanted to bask in his light forever. Luckily, she knew the rest of the lines and shouted out in time with him, “I bless the rains down in Africa!!” Lake couldn’t sing the next line because she was laughing too hard at how tone-deaf they sang along. 

With no one else but him, Lake was free to dance all the stupid moves she wanted. She learned that the streetlamps provided great pillars for swinging around and she was having so much fun that she didn’t notice the song change until Jesse gasped and shook her arm.

“Lake, this is our song!”

“What?”

“Ticket to Ride by the Beatles!”

“No, I mean we don’t _have_ a song,” she shook her head with a dizzy smile. 

“We met each other on a train, so this _could_ be our song,” he said optimistically. Then Jesse let go of her arm, instead offering his hands towards her, palms up. “Dance with me, Lake. To our song.”

“This isn’t even a slow song.”

“Well, it’s in the middle and I don’t know how else to dance to it so… dance with me anyway,” he smiled. It was stupid how obvious his attempts to flirt were, but she stepped to him anyway, placing her hands on top of his.

“Do you even know how to do this?” 

“As a matter of fact, yeah! I learn a lot of dances, usually for Apache Pow Wow. Those are a lot different, but I know the easy ballroom kind too. I could show you, I just figured you wouldn’t care to learn.”

She hadn’t really thought about it before, honestly. “I think you’re just afraid of me stepping on your toes.”

He smirked. “Never. And to prove it, I’ll teach you. Just... hm. Do the opposite of what I do, okay?” He looked down at their feet, and she did the same. Jesse took a slow step forward with his right foot, and she moved her left back. It was a lot of shuffling feet at first, but she quickly got the hang of the simple box step. 

“And then…” she could hear a smile growing in his voice, “We turn!” He took his first step sideways which threw Lake off balance for a second before she caught herself on his arm. He did his best to straighten her, incidentally pulling her _very_ close. She flushed and flicked him in the shoulder, regaining her composure.

“Warn me next time,” she muttered, falling back into step with him, still focusing on the movements of their feet.

“Okay,” he was still smiling, unphased. “I’m gonna twirl you now.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“Twirling!” He lifted his arm fast enough that the momentum did half the work for her. Her half-skirt fanned out in the quick turn, and then she returned to his arms. She was going to comment something disgruntled and sarcastic, but stopped at his expression.

“Wow… your outfit.”

She placed her hand on his shoulder but couldn’t look in his face anymore. “Shut up.”

“No, really. Lake, you’re-”

“Oh-kay! Your time to twirl!” she cut in, pulling her arm up so that he would turn. Or, more importantly, so he would turn away from her blushing face. He had to duck under her arm to twirl, but he did so anyway with dramatic flair.

“Okay what now?”

“Well, I would dip you but, um, I don’t wanna mess up your outfit from dropping you straight on the ground,” he snickered.

“You were planning to _dip_ _me?_ ”

“Well, I- oh!” Lake took him by surprise as revenge for earlier. She didn’t exactly know _how_ to dip her partner, but she sort of lean-lunged after wrapping an arm around Jesse’s back. She brought him back to a standing position quickly, laughing ridiculously hard. He was right there with her, not even managing to continue the traditional dance moves. The song had picked up its pace anyway, the confusing speed lending itself to some awkward dance moves. But Jesse couldn’t care less. He was back to jumping and dancing in no time, like he was born to move. Lake tried to keep up, to not much success. It was more his element than hers.

The song ended, and a new one started. An even slower song. A gentle piano, and then Stevie Nicks, picking up the tune to “Songbird”. 

They met eyes, a step apart from each other. Lake felt her cheeks heat up, but ignored the distraction. She didn’t want him to beat her to the question.

“May I have this dance?” she flourished, her voice dripping with sarcastic melodrama to break the tension.

But instead of carrying on the charade like usual, he nodded and stepped forward. He joined his left hand to her right. “I thought you’d never ask.” He settled his other hand gently on her waist and Lake placed hers on his shoulder. This was different from before… better, even. He had grown a little taller than when she’d met him on the train. More handsome too, but she probably shouldn’t be thinking about that when he was so close. 

Yet again, Lake had no idea what to do with herself. Maybe all this just came easily to her extroverted friend, the dancing, the talking. Not to Lake. Was she supposed to say something, or was the silence comfortable? It was hard to tell. Nerves were tying her stomach in knots for every second of silence. She groaned and rested her forehead on his shoulder to avoid his eyes. He smelled strongly of chlorine, which would’ve been bad if it wasn’t familiar. It helped.

“I’m not good at this,” she mumbled into his shoulder.

“Not good at what?” he laughed, which only made her more aware of how close they were standing.

“ _This_ , Jesse. I- I… all I know how to do is run away from everything.” She lifted her head off his shoulder. 

“Or dance them away,” he laughed. Lake didn’t reciprocate. “Sorry, I just mean,” he took a turning step, and Lake followed along better now that she’d learned. “You’re doing great. I definitely didn’t catch on this fast when I had to learn.”

She opened her mouth to correct him. She meant him, and she’d meant him _and_ her, not just the dancing. But then she decided against it, shaking her head. “If you say so.” 

From then on, she fell silent, letting the steps and the song distract her from any potential awkwardness. Eventually, she stopped checking her feet, and lifted her head to meet his gaze. Unspoken assurances passed between them. The second time Lake twirled him was much better than the first. Jesse kept them turning, giving her the impression that they were the only two solid things in the universe, which was just about where her perception was, too. The floating feeling was happening again, although this time it was magnified by the flurry of butterflies in her stomach. She was almost positive that the tiny smile he was giving her now was different than any other she’d seen. 

The turning slowed as the song did. A dreamy expression crossed Jesse’s face, and he began to mouth along with the lyrics. It got a small laugh out of her, as the lip syncing was very soulful and dramatic as always his impressions were.

And then the impression became less of a mockery as he mouthed the words, “and I love you I love you I love you... like never before.”

Lake’s lips parted in surprise. He… loved her? They stopped turning, Jesse’s expression as disarmed as hers likely was. She took in a shaky breath. He loved her? The world was folding in on itself. Did he just say that? He loved her? Time had slowed down just to speed up again. Jesse looked like he was about to say something, but Lake was too fast for him.

She took his face in her hands and kissed him. She couldn’t worry about what she was doing, her own body hijacked by infatuation, spurred on by the moment. Jesse broke the kiss immediately, looking shocked. 

“Lake!”

She blinked. “Huh?!”

“Wh- you kissed me!”

“You- You said… you…” Lake stopped talking, and then stopped breathing. No he _hadn’t_ . He _hadn’t_ said ‘I love you’. He was just mouthing along to the song. _Oh no no no no._ She brought her hands to her forehead, realizing the depths that her humiliation had reached. _No no nonono._ All of this happened within a few seconds, then she turned on her heel and ran from him in a blind panic.

“Lake, wait!” she heard after a few moments, but she was already too far gone, running without a destination, as long as it was _away._

But the problem was, he kept _following her!_

“Why are you chasing me?”

“Why are you _running_ !” he laughed, and Lake scowled but didn’t stop. She didn’t really _know_ why, but it felt right. After another block though, she had nowhere else to run because she’d reached the fence on a roadbridge. She spun around to face him, hands curled into fists.

“Finally,” he said, placing his hands on his knees to catch his breath. “You’re so fast.”

“What the _hell_ , Jesse!” her voice pitched, and she hated that she sounded so upset. Maybe it was because she _was_ upset. “Was that supposed to be some kind of sick joke, or are you just crazy?”

“Me crazy? Me?!” he laughed. “You just ran like three blocks for no reason and now you’re blaming me?”

“Y- y- you-'' she angry-stuttered. It was _aggravating_ that he had a point. Lake crossed her arms forcefully. She couldn’t seem to stop her face from blushing furiously. Being angry wasn’t making it better, either. Finally, she found words to say, “You invite me to this stupid dumb stupid high school dance, give me a flower,” she gestured to the corsage. “Keep- keep touching my _hands,_ teach me how to slow dance, mouth WORDS to me, and now you- you don’t have feelings?”

“I-” now his voice faltered. “It caught me off guard! You don’t have to be angry,” the smile remained on his face. Why did he have to keep smiling like that? Didn’t he know what he was doing to her?

“Well, I _am._ ”

“Are you sure?”

“Wha! What do you mean _am I sure?_ ...Yes!”

He nodded skeptically. “Well it seems like you’re just embarrassed.”

Lake gaped at him. “Kh- No!”

Jesse made a noise of disbelief. “I think you are.”

“I’m not embarrassed.”

“Ah, so you don’t regret it?”

“I didn’t say that I don’t regret it. Maybe I do!”

“You do?”

She didn’t know what to say in response to this kind of back and forth. “...Maybe!” 

“You know what? This is stupid. Here,” he stepped towards her, and Lake leaned away from him, confused. Then he gave her a look, and she stopped. Quickly and rather awkwardly, Jesse leaned the rest of the way and kissed her, but he missed and ended up only kissing half of her mouth before pulling back just as fast. Jesse looked at a loss for words for a moment, and then he caught up with himself, whispering “there. Now we’re even”.

It was barely anything, the half-kiss, but it was still enough to silence the incessant anger in her chest that had been roaring just before. She’d _never_ been calmed so fast.

“I… I guess we are.” She tore her eyes away from his face. The wind whistled behind them, emphasizing the awkward silence with the subtlety of a cricket’s ringing chirp. What had just happened? She let out a short airy laugh. Soon enough, her laughter grew fuller, and then boisterously loud. It racked her body, the thought that she’d not only misread signals about a hundred times, but that he’d tried to make it right and then literally _missed_ her mouth. Beside her, she could hear Jesse breaking into fits of laughter of his own over the circumstances they’d thrown each other in.

One look at his face sent her over the edge, laughing harder than before. They fell against one another, Jesse’s arm around her shoulder and hers on the fence as she tried to stabilize herself.

“That… was so… stupid!” she got out between laughs.

“I know!” He covered his eye with one hand. “I- I missed!”

“You missed!” she pushed him lightly enough that he wouldn’t move from her side. “That’s- that’s humiliating!”

“I know,” he repeated through more laughter. “S-sorry.”

“And- and I thought you were- were singing to me!”

Jesse threw his arms out, and yelled to the night, “I kinda was!” 

Lake stopped laughing. “You were?”

He shrugged sheepishly. “Kinda. I love that song. And… I love it even more now that it got me out of the friend zone.”

She sucked in a breath through her teeth, figuring he was talking about the rejection in the garage. “Sorry about that.”

“It’s okay. It only made me sad for like a couple hours, that’s all.” She pushed him again, and he caught her hand. “But it seems you fell for my charm anyway, so we’re all good now, right?” he smiled at her widely. It was sweet. So sweet that she had to look away, if only to grab his other hand. Sometimes the sun shone too bright.

“Yeah. We’re all good,” she looked up at him again, better prepared this time.

“So… now that we’re even…” he glanced off to the side and his smile followed, similarly haphazard. “Wanna make it two for two?”

She grinned. “Wow you are terrible at pickup lines. That’s not even how it works.”

He snickered. “I didn’t know how else to ask you if I could fix my mistake from earlier.”

“I’m never going to forget that.”

“Figured,” his voice lowered a few octaves, and his eyes softened as he said it too. She closed her eyes, only a little worried she’d chicken out if she could see him moving closer to her. Plus, she didn’t want to laugh again. She wanted to make this one right.

She felt his fingers brush her cheek first, the familiarity of his calloused hands filling her with nervous excitement. Finally, he kissed her, and he kissed her right. His lips were warm which meant hers were cool to the touch, but it didn’t seem to stop him from kissing her with as much enthusiasm as when she’d rushed into things. 

Lake’s hands, which had been resting on his chest, drifted up to his collar. Then she gave in and wrapped both arms around his shoulders like she’d wanted to before. Lake smiled against his mouth, and then pulled away just to angle her head so she could kiss him better. An arm snaked around her back, bringing them even closer together. After a few moments, they stopped kissing and leaned their foreheads against each other. 

“You know, I have to ask… did you plan to ask me to prom?”

Jesse grinned widely, and leaned down to kiss her cheek sweetly. “Yeah. I was actually going to go big and make you one of those posters or something. I was thinking ‘Crome to prom with me’ or something.”

“What? That’s ridiculous.”

“I know! So great, right? But then we were sitting in the garage, and it just felt _right,_ you know? I guess I was the only one who felt that way though, huh?”

“Eh…” she glanced off to the side. “I kinda… did.”

“Then why did you-”

“All in the past, Jesse!” she cut him off devilishly, grabbing his wrist and pulling him away from the bridge. “We should probably head back, given that we’re, y’know, like two miles from school in the middle of nowhere where we could be robbed or something,” she glanced around suspiciously.

“What else could they steal from me? You’ve already stolen my heart.” He snapped his fingers into finger guns and Lake rolled her eyes.

“Your spleen, probably. Or maybe your eyes.”

“Yikes. Well, good thing I have my fancy chrome dance partner to protect me, right?”

“Abupbupbup," she put a finger up to stop him. "I still never agreed to be your dance partner."

"But Laaake," he whined, but then stopped as he perked up. “Wait. Do you hear that? I think the square is still playing music.”

“I don’t hear any- ...oh.”

He held his other hand out to her, raising his eyebrows as an invitation. Lake sighed.

“Fine.

Just for tonight.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The dress design was not my own, it was actually inspired by FunneyLizzie's jesslake prom drawings on Instagram, go check out her incredible art! Thank you Lizzie!
> 
> Thanks for coming along this journey with me! I know I got super distracted but I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out in the end :)
> 
> Ticket to Ride really is a weird song. Is it slow? No. But is it fast? Also no. It's the perfect confusing middle song to dance to, and it also has a train theme! Too perfect. I actually had a hard time wrangling songs together for this, but I'm pretty happy with that I ended up with these few. I'm gonna live in my eighties-loving brain forever, and I hope I shared some good songs for y'all.
> 
> ((also here's a mini cut scene from a song I considered including:  
> “Oh my gosh this song!”  
> “What about it?”  
> “Lake, this is “Jessie’s Girl”! I was named after this song!”  
> “Wait, seriously?”  
> “No,” he snorted. ))


End file.
